Value of college degree overcomes sticker shock

Talk about sticker shock.

Two out of three undergraduate students are going into debt to go to college, and owe an average of more than $19,000 -- most of it to the government -- after graduation.

According to the Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics, about 65 percent of the students who graduated in the 2003-04 school year went into debt to do so.

For students who took out loans, the average debt was $19,202, and of that, $17,022 was from student loans.

The highest average loan amount was in New York, where graduates carried $20,838 in debt. Delaware and California joined Nebraska with the smallest loan averages.

Nearly 72 percent of Nebraska students owed student loans, for an average of $16,200 in total loans and $15,373 from federal sources.

The day of low interest government loans is ending, with new government loans fixed at 6.8 percent, and those with old variable rate loans could find themselves paying as much as 8.25 percent.

But is it worth it?

According to the latest U.S. Census Bureau figures, the answer is yes.

The average high school dropout male can expect to earn $23,400 a year, and female $18,900. Add a high school diploma, and that climbs to $30,400 and $25,900, respectively.

With some college -- not even a degree -- a man can expect to earn $36,800 a year and woman $31,200. With a two-year degree, like that easily available at McCook Community College, the annual earnings are $38,200 and $33,000 respectively.

A bachelor's degree, the benchmark for the Department of Education figures, should be worth $52,200 for the average man and $45,400 for the average woman, according to the Census Bureau figures.

The income figures continue to climb with additional education -- an accompanying debt -- to the professional degree level, which averages $109,600 for men and $99,300 for women.

Lifetime earnings are more telling, with high school graduates expected to earn $609,000 over their working lives, high school grads $821,000, some college and no degree, $993,000, associate degree $1,062,000, bachelor's degree $1,421,000, $1,619,000 for a master's, $2,142,000 for a doctorate and $3,013,000 for a professional degree.

In that light, even the current $19,000 in student debt looks like a good investment.

And the cost of a semester at McCook Community College, about $3,485 including tuition, fees, books and campus housing, looks like even more of a bargain.